Fetal Ultrasounds Cause Autism?

Health Editor’s Note: Some parents choose to withhold vaccinations from their child because they think that these vaccines, which prevent diseases that will maim or kill a child, cause autism. Now, it looks like there is another issue that can be blamed for autism, and ultrasounds have primary access to a developing embryo/fetus months before any possible exposure to a vaccine.

So, are we to believe that the road to autism begins with that first ultrasound? Just what is a fetal ultrasound and why are they done? Ultrasound bombards the embryo/fetus with high-frequency sound waves, that, yes, bounce off of the “little person to be” to produce the image of the baby as it lays in the uterus. Fetal ultrasounds may be performed during the first three months (first trimester) of pregnancy to evaluate whether you are pregnant, how many babies there are, the size of the baby, when the pregnancy began, the evaluation of the placenta and how much amniotic fluid surrounds the fetus,and the location of the baby (inside the uterus) as opposed to in the Fallopian tube (ectopic which will result in surgery for removal of the embryo because a fetus cannot develop in this structure). At this time an ultrasound will also be used to check for fetal abnormalities, genetic or otherwise.

Then in the second and third trimesters additional ultrasounds will be performed to check the anatomy of the baby, to determine if fetal growth is on schedule, to investigate complications such as bleeding,guide needle for removal of amniotic fluid and fetal cells for amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, and then finally to determine if the baby is in the desired headfirst position for delivery.

What the information presented here tends to do is to dispel rumors of fetal ultrasounds causing autism. The greatest defense against the “blame vaccines and fetal ultrasounds causing autism: is that according to supportable, medical studies, there are several dozen genes that are responsible for autism [autism spectrum disorder (ASD)]. Remember that a person receives his or her genes from his mother and father. Genes are the beginning of an individual and control whatever that individual will physically become.

The scientific support for genetic contribution to ASD has been achieved with twin studies (both identical and fraternal), family studies comparing first degree relatives who are affected by ASD versus the general population, and studies of rare genetic syndromes that go along with ASD. There may also then be an issue of shared environment as opposed to twins who are raised in parallel lives causing greater or lesser autism changes. What IS common to all ASD is the genetic component that may or may not be exacerbated by environment or issues that come up later in the child’s life.

There is/has been medial research being performed to find the actual cause/causes of autism. Autism begins with genetic make-up and not with vaccines or fetal ultrasounds just as Alzheimer’s disease does not come from getting old. There is a medical reason why some people develop Alzheimer disease and others do not. What we all have in common is that we are all getting older but we all do not share the same genes that affect how that will happen. This is the same for autism. Vaccines and fetal ultrasounds do not cause autism and are relied upon to insure the best chance at healthy fetuses who are then keptsafe from life-threatening diseases after they are born……Carol

A study appearing in JAMA Pediatrics is being reported as showing a link between ultrasound during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder. But in this Deep Dive analysis, F. Perry Wilson, MD, suggests that the study actually reveals ultrasound to be a safe procedure in this regard. What’s more, the senior author agrees.

The rate of autism spectrum disorder has risen dramatically over the past several decades.

twin studieCenters for Disease Control and PreventionNow, much of that rise has been attributed to an increased recognition and diagnosis of the syndrome, but most experts believe some environmental factor is contributing. While we don’t have a great idea of what that factor is, we’re getting more confident in what it isn’t. First, it isn’t vaccines, either the content or the schedule. I eagerly await your angry emails.

But I very much doubt that’s the story you’re going to hear with regards to this study. On the contrary, I think you’re going to hear a lot of outlets saying something like “New study links ultrasound during pregnancy with autism”.

First things first – why was this question even studied? Aren’t we always telling our patients that ultrasounds are super safe? Well, ultrasonic energy is energy, and while it may not do much damage as it passes into say, your gallbladder, it may do quite a bit more harm to a developing fetal brain. Some animal studies, in fact, have demonstrated that ultrasonic energy can alter neuronal migration, and at least one study showed that mice exposed to ultrasound in utero had poorer socialization than mice not so exposed.

In other words, there is biological plausibility here. But prior studies looking at ultrasound exposure in pregnancy, including one randomized trial, showed no link with autism.

But these studies were blunt tools – looking at ultrasound as a binary, yes/no type of exposure. Did you get one or not?

The study in JAMA Pediatrics, in contrast, is much more precise. The researchers took 107 kids with autism spectrum disorder and matched them to 104 kids with other developmental anomalies and 209 kids with typical development. They then went back and tallied up all their ultrasounds in utero, but not just the number. They looked at the duration of ultrasound, the frame rate, whether Doppler was used, and also the thermal and mechanical indices – metrics that quantify exactly how much energy is delivered to the imaged tissues.

In total, 9 different ultrasound metrics were assessed. The effect was assessed over the entire pregnancy and in trimester 1, 2, and 3.

Now assessing this much detail is a double-edged sword. If you count it up, we have more than 30 statistical tests here. Some of these were bound to turn up as statistically significant by chance alone as there was no correction done for multiple comparisons.

And that’s just what happened.

Depth of ultrasound was found to be associated with ASD, but none of the other metrics were. Well, duration of ultrasound was associated with ASD in the first two trimesters, but in the opposite direction of what would be hypothesized, with longer duration of ultrasound being protective.

Should we conclude, then, that we should be careful how deep we set our ultrasound scanners? Almost certainly not. There is a very good chance this is a false positive. Even if it’s not, depth of ultrasound is largely determined by anatomy, and maternal body habitus. The observed link may be explained by maternal adiposity.

But more impressive than this is the lack of association with thermal or mechanical index – the biological factors previously hypothesized to mediate any adverse ultrasound effects. If ultrasound is causative in ASD, you would really think that more ultrasonic energy delivered would be worse. This study essentially rules out that possibility, and to me, rules out the possibility that increased ultrasonography in pregnancy is driving the autism epidemic.

But if you don’t take my word for it, ask senior author Dr. Jodi Abbott, whom I spoke with last week about the study results:

“Given the information investigated very very thoroughly, none of the parameters previously associated with harm were found to be different in these populations.”

In other words – the search goes on. But if excellent researchers like Dr. Abbott and her colleague Dr. Paul Rosman continue their in-depth analyses, the search will lead to answers.

Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE, is an assistant professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. He is a MedPage Today reviewer, and in addition to his video analyses, he authors a blog, The Methods Man. You can follow @methodsmanmd on Twitter.

{p}Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master's of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.{/p}{p}She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen - two daughters-in-law; Suzy and Katie - two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia - and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with husband Gordon Duff, many cats, two rescue pups, and two guinea pigs.{/p}{p}Carol's Archives 2009-2013{/p}

18 COMMENTS

Sure the love of money is the root of all evil. So many comments placing the blame for allopathic medicine (slash and burn medicine or chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery) on money e.g. profit driven. Blaming money and the profit motive is nothing more than a calculated ploy or ruse if you will.

Again, I defer to the comment from our esteemed colleague Rayhan Ali. Purim in disguise or soft-kill. The medical system gets you to volunteer to kill yourself vis-a-vis direct to consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals. Getting you to dabble in sorcery. Then people not-in-the-know give their power away to a perceived authority figure in a white lab coat.

Pretty soon I think they will be moving to hard-kill. Similarly to how the Bolsheviks brought in the diesel engines and revved the engines up as they mowed people down with machine guns.

“Frontiers in Public Health“ published the results of a study in the US, three major findings: 1. Vaccinated children were more than twice as likely to have some chronic illness. 2. Vaccinated children were nearly four times as likely to have learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. 3. Vaccinated children who were born prematurely were more than six times more likely to have brain or central nervous system disorders, including autism.“ The world-famous Koch Institute of Germany published similar findings. Garth Nicolson, is one of the most cited scientists in the world, stated that vaccines are contaminated with mycoplasma and we are all contracting chronic, degenerative diseases from them. Dr. Maurice Hilleman, former chief virologist for MERCK, stated that Merck’s Hepatitis B vaccines caused the AIDS epidemic in the US, and that all vaccines are contaminated and cause rather than prevent illness. Dr. Robert Bell, once Vice President International Society for Cancer Research at the British Cancer Hospital stated, “The chief, if not the sole, cause of the monstrous increase in cancer has been vaccination”. In 1806, a British physician, Dr. Birch, wrote “ — the public should express regret that what ought to have been admitted as an experiment only had been adopted as a practice.“ History and Pathology of Vaccination, 1889, p 194. One assumes that the author/editor of the article is seeking status as an author.

Over one million children in America, under the age of six are on psychiatric drugs. Why is it that more than 60 vaccinations are being given to infants before they are even two years old? America has the highest infant mortality rate of any of the western developed nations, higher than even Cuba. Why all those shots? Why does the pharmaceutical industry hand out hundreds of millions to election campaigns? How did they manage to corrupt the FDA and the CDC? Just ask yourself, why do Americans no longer trust the government. Lies, lies and more lies. America has become a failed state. My advice to all young people upon graduating from school is to leave now while you still can and find some other place to live other than the U.S. which is becoming Sovietized.

“…Vitamin C supplementation increases sperm production. More sperm, stronger sperm and better swimming sperm all manifested within only four days, at 1,000 mg daily C doses, in a University of Texas study. And this has been known now for over 30 years; it was first reported in Medical Tribune, May 11, 1983. (5)”

Professor Linus Pauling became famous for his extensive research on the healing properties of Vitamin C. Since his death we don´t see much reference to Vitamin C, which treats causation, not symptoms, and conflicts with allopathic medicine practice.

http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v10n06.shtml FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 27, 2014 Not Taking Supplements Causes Miscarriage, Birthing Problems, Infant Mortality by Andrew W. Saul, Editor Quotes: Vitamin C Protects Mother and Baby “Far from being an abortifacient, vitamin C in fact helps hold a healthy pregnancy right from the start. Pediatrician Lendon Smith, M.D., known to TV audiences nationwide as “The Children’s Doctor, had this to say: “Vitamin C is our best defense and everyone should be on this one even before birth. Three thousand mgs daily for the pregnant woman is a start. The baby should get 100 mg per day per month of age.” For centuries, postpartum hemorrhage was a leading cause of death in childbed. Hemorrhage very often occurs in scorbutic (vitamin C deficient) patients. (3) Optimum dosing with vitamin C prevents hemorrhage and saves women’s lives. One way it may do this is by strengthening the walls of the body’s large and small blood vessels. “Harmful effects have been mistakenly attributed to vitamin C, including hypoglycemia, rebound scurvy, infertility, mutagenesis, and destruction of vitamin B(12). Health professionals should recognize that vitamin C does not produce these effects.” (Levine M et al, Journal of the American Medical Association, April 21, 1999. Vol 281, No 15, p 1419) Dr. Frederick R. Klenner, M.D., gave very large doses of vitamin C to over 300 pregnant women and reported virtually no …”

“…virtually no complications in any of the pregnancies or deliveries (4). Indeed, the hospital nurses around Reidsville, North Carolina, noted that the infants who were healthiest and happiest were the “Vitamin C babies.” Abram Hoffer, M.D., has similarly reported that he has observed a complete absence of birth defects in babies born to his vitamin-C taking mothers-to-be.” “Specifically, Klenner gave: (1) 4,000 mg each day during the first trimester (first three months of pregnancy) (2) 6,000 mg each day during the second trimester (3) 8,000 to 10,000 mg each day during the third trimester Some women got 15,000 mg daily during the third trimester. There were no miscarriages in this entire group of 300 women. Klenner gave “booster” injections of vitamin C to 80% of the women upon admission to the hospital for childbirth. But just with oral supplemental vitamin C, the results were wonderful. First, labor was shorter and less painful. (My children’s mother, with her 2 hr 45min and 1hr 45 min labor times, can confirm this.) Second, stretch marks were seldom to be seen. (Yes, I can vouch for this, too.) Third, there were no postpartum hemorrhages at all. And, there were no toxic manifestations and no cardiac distress. Among Klenner’s patients were the Fultz quadruplets, which at the time were the only quads in the southeastern U.S. to have survived. Vitamin C even helps with conception. Vitamin C supplementation increases sperm production. More sperm, stronger sperm …”

Everyone must remember that nearly all higher animals manufacture their own Vitamin C; humans do not. This explains why humans are so deficient in Vitamin C at all times but the totally corrupt FDA has obstructed this knowledge. Vitamin C is improperly named a Vitamin when, evidence and facts developed by the genius medical doctor Frederick R. Klenner prove it is in fact a medicine. He has used it in hundreds of patients in numerous medical conditions and NEVER observed a single negative consequence. The criminals in the FDA are controlled by Big Pharma. Money has corrupted our health and medical system. Many other vitamins are crucial too like Vitamin E. Don’t allow you doctor to turn you against use of vitamins; it might shorten your life and the life of your unborn child if you be a Mother. Most medical doctors are brainwashed by medical indoctrination not true truth and understanding of how the human body works and must have daily supplies of not only Mother Oxygen, but Vitamins as well. We no longer get necessary Vitamins from foods because the food value has been ruined because of criminal negligence of the FDA.

The motivation for continuing the fraud that is termed “vaccination“ was discerned by author Crookshank: “In 1805 Jenner was again in London discussing with his friends the establishment of vaccination and the advancement of his private fortune“. “History and Pathology of Vaccination”, 1889, p 193.

There is nothing in Western Rockefeller based “medical science”, what a joke, that I can see that has helped mankind in any way finding a cure for anything. Who, with a working brain, would believe the Rockefeller’s give a good damn about mankind and relieving suffering? Who? Our medicine, just like wars, are profit driven. Where is there money to be made in a cure? You are delusional, my dear. And deliberately blind cause God knows, you have a brain, so why don’t you use it.

The useless, needless, expensive testing done today is the stuff of legends. Ka-ching ka-ching!! That’s what it’s all about. It is painfully obvious given the rampant disease we have today in America, that was all but non existent just 50 years ago, that something has changed and not for the better. These useless tests are a major part of the problem.

Doesn’t sonar heat up the atmosphere? How can that be a good thing for a fetus? Haven’t children and old folks been tested showing vast amounts of aluminum in their brains? Where did that come from? Short of chelation, what else removes heavy metals from the body, but oooh, another form of quackery MSMedicine vilifies. The dangerously high aluminum levels are coming from vaccines as the primary source since little kids don’t eat antacids or use antiperspirants. And old folks believe that fear mongering flu campaign every year, so we know where their dementia is coming from. All the testing done today causes more harm to the human body than the illness doctors feign to be concerned about.

Yup . . . nothing man-made “creates” autism or other latent defects to the human body, mind and soul, smh. So good ahead and have sound waves implode on the fetus, then inoculate the newly born infant with toxins before their immune systems is even close to developing, then feed it with GMO food stuffs and cow’s milk laced w/chemicals to make them produce more milk. What was the testing done on the ultrasound? I’m curious. What was the control set? What was the placebo? Did they send in sound waves to a fetus, then take it out to study the affects on the muscular-skeletal formations? Or the brain scans prior to, and then after? Seems odd to me since they can’t even figure out what “austim” in . . . it’s a spectrum, chose a spectrum any spectrum. Is it a “disorder”? Then how did the “order” become dis? “Definition of autism spectrum disorder. : any of a group of developmental disorders (such as autism and Asperger’s syndrome) marked by impairments in the ability to communicate and interact socially and by the presence of repetitive behaviors or restricted interests — called also pervasive developmental disorder.” You have a baby, then your doctor hands out ASD. ANY PARENT would want to know why, and that . . . has not been provided by med’sin to date.

America Eats Its Young https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSBV-CEizsI&list=RDRSBV-CEizsI&index=1 Infant mortality, the death of an infant prior to their first year birthday, is the highest in the U.S. of A. Cuba has a better infant mortality rate. Of all the westernized nations, the U.S. of A. ranks the worst. America Eats Its Young – lyrics 1972 “A luscious bltch she is, true But it’s not nice to fool mother nature The proud mother of god like all ho’s Is jealous of her own shadow So who is this young Vic Tranny litch Who wish to be queen for a day? Who would sacrifice the great grandsons and daughters Of her jealous mother By sucking their brain Until their ability to think was amputated By pimping their instincts Until they were fat, horny and strung-out In her neurotic attempt to be queen of the universe Who is this litch?”

Isn’t medical science supposed to FIGURE IT OUT! Find a CURE . . . not create the cause? But they’ll solve it all, and create the Good Doctor tell-a-vision show, which creates the character of the autistic M.D. who performs miracles. And the crowds go wild. Why my little Autistic Annie might be able to get into med skool.

Allopathic medicine treats symptoms. not causation. Alleviating symptoms without removing the causation is the practice of modern medicine. The healing qualities of cannabis is a basic reason for Rockefeller and DuPont having the hemp family classified to be illegal. Cannabis and cannabis oil assist the body to heal causation and 200 years ago tended to be viewed as a cure-all. Hemp is a multipurpose plant that Henry Ford demonstrated to make plastic that is superior to plastics from crude-oil extracts. Thus, DuPont assisted with the defamation campaign.